Heading into her last season at Pocono Mountain West, Benitez was closing in 1,000 points for her career, but more importantly she was chasing something that had proved to be quite elusive — a Mountain Valley Conference championship.

In her sophomore and junior seasons at West, Benitez had helped the Panthers reach the MVC championship game only to come up short both times in overtime to Pleasant Valley.

"One of my goals was to get my 1,000th point, but I really wanted to lead my team to a championship," said Benitez, a two-time All-MVC and Pocono Record All-Area first-team guard. "It was hard (losing the previous two years), but it made us just push that much harder this season."

Whatever the Panthers did, it worked.

After going through the regular season unbeaten in conference play, Pocono West beat Stroudsburg by 40 in the MVC semifinals and Pleasant Valley by 26 in the championship game to win its third MVC title since 2006. Benitez also hit 1,000 points at the perfect time, giving the Panthers a lead they never relinquished against Bangor in the semifinals of the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs that put them in the district final for the first time in school history and PIAA playoffs for a second time.

"She came in determined to leave as a champion and another goal was to get 1,000 points," PM West coach Stacy Perryman said. "It was something that she was able to do within the goals of the team as well. They were two things she set out to do and she achieved them."

Benitez is the Pocono Record girls basketball Player of the Year.

The high point of her senior season was four years in the making for Benitez.

She saw time as a reserve on the varsity team as a freshman before breaking into the starting lineup as a sophomore. A fantastic athlete at the beginning, Benitez, who finished her career with 1,025 points, eventually turned into just as a good of a basketball player as time went on.

"Her mindset totally changed over time," Perryman said. "At first she was an individually goal-oriented person, but that has to change when you become part of a team and you set goals together. She became such a team player that the individual accolades were going to come for her and they did."

A big reason for that is Benitez's love for the game.

She always wears a smile on her face, something that helped her get through the tough times the Panthers faced after losing back-to-back MVC title games in overtime. Her passion for the game and non-stop energy was also something that rubbed off on Benitez's teammates when fatigue set in during practice or things weren't going West's way in a game.

"I've always been passionate about basketball," said Benitez, who has drawn interest from a number of PSAC schools. "You'll never see me down and I'm a very happy person and fun to be around. I'm always smiling no matter what is happening."

Benitez usually saved her best play for the biggest moments.

Against PV in the MVC final, the Panthers led by just four at the half after falling behind 7-0 in the opening minutes. It was all West in the second half, though, with Benitez scoring 13 of her game-high 15 points after halftime to lead her team to that elusive MVC crown.

A week later in the district playoffs, the Panthers found themselves in a tight battle with Northampton in the quarterfinals. The Konkrete Kids went to the foul line with a chance to take the lead early in the third quarter, but after two misses Benitez grabbed the rebound, went the length of the floor and scored on an uncontested layup. That basket was the beginning of the 10-0 run that helped the Panthers put the game away and set up the showdown with Bangor.

Both teams struggled from the floor in that semifinal contest, but they battled to a 37-37 tie with under a minute to play. That's when Benitez drove hard down the lane for an uncontested layup to give her points 1,000 and 1,001 for her career and the Panthers a lead they never gave up.

"She sets the tone at practice every day for us," Perryman said. "She has that mindset of once she's ready to go she's going to go and she'll take anybody who wants go along for the ride. She is such a complete player and with all that she gives I don't think there's an ounce of energy left once that game is over.

"I don't know where it comes from, but she is such a determined player and once she gets the ball in her hands we know it's going to turn out for the best."